Comedian Bell brings charged humor

by anthony a. mestas
the pueblo chieftain

Published: January 23, 2014;Last modified: January 23, 2014 06:12AM

Laughing and learning about racism with blunt honesty and not one iota of politically correctness in a one-hour show topped the night Wednesday at Colorado State University-Pueblo’s latest installment of its Distinguished Speakers Series.

W. Kamau Bell attends the FX Summer Comedies Party at Lure on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP)

Political comedian W. Kamau Bell had a crowd of about 100 people at the school’s Hoag Recital Hall rolling with laughter with his take on racism and how it’s handled worldwide.

In his show, “The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in about an Hour,” Bell used life stories, history, sports and pop culture to drive his point to the audience consisting of mainly CSU-Pueblo students.

Bell joked about what he called racist sports team logos, even taking a dig at the university’s former logo when it was called the University of Southern Colorado. “Some have changed their logos, like the University of Southern Colorado Indians. With the tomahawk and the feather for no reason. Yeah,” he said pointing to USC’s old logo.

“Then someone was like, ‘You know I think it would be better if we called ourselves the Colorado State University ThunderWolves,” he said in a high-pitched voice with laughs that followed.

“But once ThunderWolves learn how to talk, you guys are (obscenity).”

Bell also spoke about the country after the election of its first African-American president and how the census defines what white people’s race is.

Bell said race isn’t real, but racism is.

“Racism is the result of us believing in race,” he said.

“Until we stop believing in race, we will be believing in racism.”

The socio-political comedian also spoke about interracial marriages and different levels of racism.

Bell also spoke about Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and his outburst following the NFC championship Sunday and the racist names he was called on Twitter.